Mountain Biking the Rocky Gap ATV Trails

The Rocky Gap ATV Trails are located in the western part of the Allegheny National Forest, not too far from Warren, PA. Although the trails are designed with ATV and dirt bikes in mind, they are open to mountain bikes as well. I am somewhat hesitant to ride on ATV trails. The trails tend to get chewed up and can be unpleasant to ride. I have also ridden some ATV trails when I lived in Maine that weren't too bad to ride.

I saw mountain biking reports on both Trailforks and MTB Project that made the area sound promising. With two loops consisting of over 20 miles or riding and only 15 minutes from where I'm staying, I had to check out the trails. I headed out on a Monday in late July. Riding on Monday would hopefully help avoid much ATV traffic (can you say dusty). It also hadn't rained for a week. From past experience, these kind of trails can be muddy after recent rains.

There are two separate loops. The North Loop runs close to 11 miles and for ATV riders is rated as a "most difficult" while the South Loop runs closer to 8 miles and carries an "easiest" rating for ATVs. Both loops were rated as intermediate for bikes on Trailforks. I decided to ride the longer and more difficult North Loop first.

Entering the trail system

Trail leading into the loops

Junction between the two loops

I encountered a couple of puddles almost immediately that weren't exactly avoidable. I was hoping this wasn't a sign of the rest of the ride. For ATVs, the loops are directional. I decided to ride the loops the same direction ATVs ride them. After crossing the road, the riding started out quite nicely.

The trails are intended for ATVs less than 50" wide. So the trail ride like a double track. This allows for good speed when the trail isn't too rough. There were some wet spots on the start of the trail, but most were easily avoidable with my bike.

Like all National Forests, Allegheny National Forest is open to logging and mineral extraction. I quickly came across oil wells along the trail. I also saw a few tanks and pipes that may have been for natural gas. The air near the wells stank. There were a lot of these wells, particularly on the North Loop.

Lots of oil wells near the trail

Typical trail near the early part of the ride

Within the first couple miles, I reached some cool rock features along the trail. The trail even passed through a narrow corridor between two house size boulders. There was a few technical spots in here. The riding was pretty fun in here with interesting terrain.

House sized rock just off the trail

Technical section

Riding between giant boulders

Looking back at the boulders

Storage tanks along the trail

The trail descended into narrow sections with pretty hemlock forests. Generally the riding was pretty good over the first half of the North Loop. I did hit a few mud holes that were mostly avoidable. I saw at least a couple trucks cross the trail on the network of dirt roads that service the oil operation.

Pretty section through hemlocks

The first half of the North Loop is scenic

Oil well right on the trail

Fast section

The second half of the North Loop became less pleasant to ride. Large mud puddles became more frequent, though I could usually get around them on my bike. The trails climbed quite a bit on the second half too. While this isn't normally a problem, but the ATVs chew up the terrain on the climbs, leaving the tread covered in loose rock.

Puddles weren't unusual 

Another fast section

More typical section with manageable rocks

In between the rock and mud holes, I still found some good riding. The problem was that the flow was broken up pretty often with more loose tread or puddles. These are ATV trails after all and not designed with bikes in mind.

I didn't all look so nice and smooth

Chipmunk along the trail

While the riding on the North Loop wasn't great, it wasn't the worst riding either. It was reminiscent of mountain biking when I first started riding. You would just ride anywhere there was a trail in the forest that allowed bikes. It wasn't always the most pleasant, but it was before purpose built mountain bike trails became more commonplace. 

Given that the South Loop had an easier rating, I was hoping it had better flow and less mud and rock. The South Loop started with a quick but bumpy descent. I passed a tree trunk that had a huge cluster of orange mushrooms growing around it. I stopped by the mushrooms to let a group of  three ATVs and one dirt bike pass. These were the first people I saw on the trails after maybe 12-13 miles.

Huge mushroom cluster

Closeup of the mushrooms

After leaving the mushrooms, the riding went from mediocre to just plain unenjoyable. Mud puddles became a lot more frequent. Many of them were unavoidable. There were some good stretches between the puddles, but by the time you got into the rhythm, it was broken up by another puddle.

An easier puddle to get by

There is a neat area along the trail with a bunch of house sized boulders. When I arrived at the boulders, the group of ATVs that passed me earlier were taking a break here. It looked like there was even campsites by the boulders. I passed a few more smaller rocks after leaving the main cluster of boulders.

One of the ATV'ers on a boulder

I wish it all rode this nice

I promise there were puddles that 
were much bigger

From the boulders, the trail began a long descent with nice berms on the corners. Unfortunately I encountered the worst sections of mud on this descent. I would pick up speed and suddenly reach a giant puddle across the entire trail. I couldn't just blast through the puddles. Some of them had sections of thick mud that nearly stopped me dead in my tracks. Other puddles were a foot deep, again bringing me to a stop. Adding to the unpleasant riding, much of the trail was sandy. The soupy mud caused the sand to form a thick layer of sludge on me and my bike. The brakes and cassette were making all kinds of fun noises as the mud moved through them. My pedals and cleats were also getting clogged with mud and I was having a hard time locking into my pedals.

Riding by a boulder

The lower section didn't have big puddles

At the bottom of the downhill, the trail followed a pretty section through hemlocks. The puddles in here were mostly avoidable. I enjoyed the riding along this section. Unfortunately it didn't last too long and the trail soon turned away from the hemlocks and began climbing. 

Pretty stretch in the hemlocks

If only it all rode like this

The last couple miles had a lot more unavoidable puddles with thick mud that were sometimes at least a foot deep with water. Between the puddles were short blasts of nice trail. Unfortunately these mudholes were just too frequent and overshadowed the pleasant areas of the trail and killed any flow I may of had. 

I must have been too agitated to actually take pics
 of the worst mudholes, this section looks nice

By the end of this ride, I covered around 21 miles and was more than ready to be finished. While it definitely was the straw that broke the camel's back, the pudding like mud wasn't the only issue. The day was incredibly muggy. Storms were scheduled to move in by the afternoon. The muggy air seemed to bring out the gnats in force. When I was pedaling on slow terrain, the gnats formed a cloud in front of my face. The petroleum or gas smell in the air by the active wells didn't help with the enjoyment of the ride either. There was just too many factors that killed the enjoyment with this ride.  

Although I have a bike rack, I often throw my bike in the back of my van for convenience. Of course I didn't have my bike rack with me this time. I used an old shirt to try and get the worst of the thick mud off my bike before putting it in my van. I was also quite muddy. I stripped down to my padded undershorts. I used my black, baggy riding shorts to get the worst of the mud off of me before sitting in my van. I had to hose my bike and riding shoes off with pretty strong water pressure to get the mud out of all the nooks and crannies.

In case you haven't already guessed, I'm not recommending riding these trails, at least by mountain bike. They are best left to ATVs and dirt bikes that they are intended for. While I highly doubt that I'd ride these trails again, the only way I'd even consider it would be after several weeks without rain. If nothing else, a lot of the area is fairly pretty. Several sections rode through beautiful hemlock forests and large boulders added to the scenery. But for a mountain bike ride, it just wasn't that enjoyable. Not every adventure is gonna be a home run, but you don't know until you try.

If you enjoyed this post, check out and "LIKE" Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures where I post photos more often and revisit past adventures.

Backpacking the Gerard Hiking Trail

The Gerard Hiking Trail travels 36 miles in Oil Creek State Park in northwest Pennsylvania. It forms a loop that travels along the gorge cut by Oil Creek. I never really knew much about the trail or the state park until a friend of mind hiked the trail earlier this year. Normally, I would have probably overlooked the trail, but he spoke highly of the area and put it on my radar.

I originally intended a more ambitious hiking trip in late July, but was feeling a little under the weather. Not wanting to start a five day trip feeling run down, I postponed that hike. I've been located just outside of the Allegheny National Forest since the beginning of July. Oil Creek State Park is only a 30-40 minute drive from where I'm staying. After a couple days, I felt a little better and decided to hike the Gerard Hiking Trail. It's less than half the length of the trail I originally planned to hike and has a couple cross connecter trails to cut the hike short if I wasn't feeling up hiking the full loop.

I set out to hike the Gerard Hiking Trail on Friday, July 24th. By then I was feeling pretty well and planned on hiking the trail as an overnight trip. Before planning an overnight trip on the Gerard Hiking Trail, it's worth noting that backpackers are limited to two overnight sites, one on each side of the gorge. Each camping area is equipped with six shelters and a tenting area. Because it's a state park, reservations are required to use these areas for a small fee. 

Typical sign at road crossing

Since I planned on hiking the loop as an overnight trip, I started my hike at the Wolfkiel Shelter Area Trailhead. This is actually one of the overnight camping areas open to backpackers on the trail. I chose this as a starting point to allow for a 20 mile day my first day. From what I gathered, most people backpacking the trail begin at the northern or southern ends of the trail. There are actually numerous trailheads that you can start a trip to suit your mileage to reach the shelter areas for camping.

Follow the yellow blazes

Hiking through hemlocks

Most of the trail is quite pleasant

My hike began a little after 930AM. From the trailhead, I walked down the dirt road a few minutes  intersecting the trail on Miller Farm Road and headed south on the trail. It was a cool morning with  nice, sunny skies. From the start, the trail is nicely maintained as it travels through a hardwood forest. I soon descended through a darker hemlock forest and reached Wolfkiel Run. Even with a decent rain just a couple days earlier, the creek was already pretty low. With the exception of Oil Creek, which flows through the middle of the gorge,  most of the creeks along the loop are pretty small and don't have much flow. I imagine in dry stretches; many of these creeks, or runs as they are called in much of PA, are reduced to a trickle or completely dry.

Wolfkiel Run

Not many flowers on the trail, here is a past
its prime beebalm

Nice bridge over Wolfkiel Run

I'm guessing the construction of this bridge
didn't go smoothly

Most of the bridges were quite nice

I crossed Wolfkiel Run on a nicely built bridge. It became evident that the local group that maintains the trail puts a lot of love into it. Most of the bridges and boardwalks on the trail are in great shape and well built. Many of them even have shingles on the decking to give you grip.

A less fancy bridge

Even thought the forest along the trail isn't overly wet, I quickly noticed mushrooms along the trail. Over the course of the hike, I saw many varieties of mushrooms pretty often. The mushrooms turned out to be one of the highlights of this trip. I don't really like mushrooms for eating, but am fascinated by their appearance. I stopped quite a bit to take pictures of the various mushrooms along the trail, as you will soon see as you continue reading.

Let the mushrooms begin

Mushrooms were abundant

Anybody that hikes in the mountains in the eastern US knows that views are limited by leaf cover. This trail was no different. There are a few vistas along the trail, but they are pretty narrow. Within the first few miles, I passed a couple narrow windows through the trees where you could see Oil Creek at the bottom of the gorge and the top of the gorge across the valley.

A view looking down on Oil Creek

Partial view across the gorge

The trail often sticks to the top of the ridges along the top of the gorge. The gorge itself drops nearly 500' to the creek below. Throughout the hike, the trail drops off the ridges into drainages along the gorge. Usually these elevation changes are never more than 2-300' and fairly gradual. There is an occasional punchy little climb or descent at these drainages. 

The trail hiked fairly easily

More mushrooms

And yet another kind of mushroom

The gorge itself is part of the Allegheny Plateau. While most of the terrain along the ridge traverses wooded terrain, the trail occasionally passes by interesting rock features, which isn't unusual on the Allegheny Plateau. I passed the largest of these rocky areas about an hour and a half into my hike. The trail hiked right along these rocks, some of which were the size of a house. 

While rocks are not unusual, just before the rocks, the trail passes something of an oddity. Just off the trail sat an old, rusted out bus. The bus sat in the forest surrounded by trees, with no obvious road near by. A stovepipe indicates the bus was probably used as a shelter at some point. The bus gives off Chistopher McCandless vibes. This was the second such bus I have seen backpacking this year. The other was just south of Franklin, NC along the Bartram Trail.

Old bus

House size rock

Walking between the rocks

Trail along a huge boulder

The trail leaves the large boulders and drops down a couple hundred feet as it descends toward Pioneer Run. There is a small waterfall in the run. The trail hikes directly across the top of Pioneer Falls. As with many of the little runs along the trail, the flow was down to a trickle. Nonetheless, the little waterfall was still pretty. I'm sure that Pioneer Falls would be stunning after a heavy rainfall or during spring runoff.

Back to the mushrooms

And another

Pioneer Falls

While there is plenty of nature to found in Oil Creek State Park, the park is also known for its history. This was the site of the world's first commercial oil boom starting in 1859. Along parts of the trail, you see reminders to this past. Shortly after leaving Pioneer Falls, I passed an old run down structure. I think this dilapidated building probably came after the oil boom days, but still looked pretty old. After passing another view toward Oil Creek in the gorge, I passed another cement structure. I'm guessing this was also from after the oil boom days.

Dilapidated structure along the trail

Partial view of Oil Creek

Mushroom closeup

Not sure what this was

Although the derelict building and cement structure looked more recent than the oil boom, I encountered some oil boom history within a few minutes. I saw some wooden oil derricks and other structures. These were full sized historical replicas that  are part of the Benninghoff Farm Tableau. This was the site of a farm where oil was found in the 1860s, leaving the owner, John Benninghoff wealthy. There is a nice view toward Oil Creek a short distance below. The trail hikes directly under one of the derricks. About five minutes later I passed an old grave with the death dating back to 1848.

View by Benninghoff Farm

Wooden derricks at the Benninghoff Farm Tableau

Sign about the local history of the site

Trail passes under the derrick

Old grave along the trail

The trail travels close to the Egbert Farm Day Use Area part of the state park. Other than a road crossing, the trail avoids the day use area, generally staying on higher terrain along the gorge. I saw several deer through here as well as some old metal that I'm guessing was related to the oil days. I also had a fairly nice view from a powerline clearing.

Boardwalk through marshy area

Marshy area

Old oil boom relics

Boardwalk with shingles for traction

Dense vegetation

View from a powerline clearing

I was reaching the south end of the loop near the Blood Farm Day Use Area. Here the trail drops from the ridge to the south end of the loop. I could hear children at the day use area before I arrived there. At the day use area, the trail drops to the river with a bathroom and picnic tables. I attempted to refill my water at the area, but all of the water fountains and spigots were out of use. I found a picnic table in the shade to take a break and have my lunch.

Didn't get too far without another mushroom

A grassy clearing

So many varieties

Lots of orange mushrooms

Oil Creek by the Blood Farm Day Use Area

Downriver 

Leaving the day use area, the trail travels through the Blood Farm Site. This is another local farm that went from rags to riches during the oil boom. Interpretive signs tell the history of the family and area. Several old buildings and artifacts sit close to the trail as well. I found it quite interesting. At the peak of the oil boom in the 1860s, the area was completely devoid of vegetation as they raped the land to make a profit. It's amazing that nature has healed itself eventually and the area is now surrounded by beautiful forest once again.

Preserved structures from the oil boom

Lots of signs about the history of the area at the 
south end of the loop

Leaving the state park briefly to cross Oil Creek

I left the state park briefly at the south end of the trail. The trail crosses the creek on a public road bridge and heads back north. The Gerard Hiking Trail reaches its low point here at just over 1,000'. Before entering the woods, I passed a few more historic buildings and interpretive signs telling about the area's history. After a reading some of the signs and checking out the buildings, I climbed back into the woods and made my way back to the top of the ridge.

Oil Creek at the south end of the loop

Preserved historic home in the state park

Still on the right track

The trail seems to have more ups and downs as it begins its way back north. Like all the elevation changes up to this point, the changes typically ranged in the 2-300' range. I continued to pass by many more mushrooms. A few short stretches of mountain laurel lined the trail. A section of the trail also had a mossy tread. The occasional artifact and structure sat near the trail as a reminder to its past.

A section of mountain laurel

Mushrooms in moss

Mossy stretch of trail

Typical stretch of trail

More old oil boom relics

During my first few miles heading north, the trail actually dropped to the shore of Oil Creek. On the west side of the trail, it never dropped all the way to the creek. The trail climbed in and out of several drainages. Mushrooms continued to be a constant presence along the trail. I eventually crossed a paved road after about four miles. After the road I came saw more rocks and boulders. 

Oil Creek from a powerline clearing

That's a big one

Getting down to the ground to take some pics

Boulders near the park offices

Shortly after crossing the road, I reached a junction. A trail here led about .3 miles to the park office. I took the short side trip to the office to take a quick break, have a snack, and most importantly- use the bottle filling station. 

Back on the trail, I hiked by a few more boulders. The Gerard Hiking Trail uses yellow blazes. I started to see red blazes as well and the trail became wider. Here the trail shared its tread with some of the park's cross country ski trails.

More boulders

Zoomed in pic of a very tiny toad

The hiking trail on the same tread as 
cross country ski trail

The trail stayed on higher ground above the gorge after leaving the park office. It was on this stretch that a short side trail leads to a vista. I thought this was probably the best vista along the entire loop. From high above the gorge, the vista looks down upon the Benninghoff Farm Tableau. You can see the wooden derricks below. It made for a neat vantage point looking down on the derricks.

Nice view over the canyon toward
Benninghoff Farm

Zoomed in pic of Benninghoff Farm Tableau from 
high above

From the vista, I had just over an hour to hike for the day before reaching the Cow Run Shelter Area. The hike went by pretty quickly. The trail shared the tread with the cross country ski trails for a while and made for easy travel. I reached the shelter area just before 6PM after covering just over 20 miles on the day.

Warming hut along cross country ski trail

Back at ground level to get the
details in the mushrooms

Pretty section through hemlocks and ferns

Like I mentioned earlier, you are required to stay at one of the two designated camping areas along the Gerard Hiking Trail when backpacking. Each camping area has six shelters and a open area for tents. Since it's a state park, a reservation is required as well as a fee of $4 a night for PA residents and $5 for nonresidents. Since the fee is the same, I reserved a shelter. In addition to the shelters, the camping areas also have pit toilets with toilet paper and hand sanitizer, picnic tables, wood and newspaper to start fires in the shelter fireplace, a water spigot, a bear box, and even dog poop bags. It's pretty luxe for a backpacking camping site.

When I arrived, there was only other shelter taken by a father with his two college aged kids. I sat at my shelter's picnic table eating dinner. I looked up and noticed a barred owl sitting in a tree staring in my direction. It didn't seem to mind my presence and I watch it for a while. Occasionally two smaller birds would attack it in attempt to make it move to no avail.

First sighting of the barred owl

After twenty minutes or so, the owl flew and landed on a branch even closer to me. It didn't stay very long though before landing on a different branch, a little further away with its back to me. It stuck around a long time though before moving on.

The owl after it moved in closer

I was talking to the guy at the other shelter for a while when the owl decided to come back. This was nearly two hours after I initially saw it. This time it was fairly close. It was higher up on a branch this time. It patiently allowed us to take pictures of it without flying off. Clearly this was the owl's home turf. I thought it would be a noisy night with the owl, but it only called from the immediate area once that I heard after dark.

The owl a couple hours later, closer to dark

The owl wasn't the only wildlife by the shelters. As expected, chipmunks and squirrels hung out nearby. More interesting than the rodents was the toads. I saw several, extremely small toads hopping around. When I say small, I mean the size of my fingernail in some cases. As night fell, I saw a few larger toads that were more normal sized.

Can you spot the miniature toad

One of the shelters

A larger toad outside the shelter at dark

I slept well in the shelter and daylight came much too quickly. Without a tent to pack up, I was on my way faster than normal. By the shelter, the trail follows a dirt road. I missed the turn off the dirt road. I went back and forth for nearly twenty minutes looking for the turn. Finally, I headed back to the shelter and saw the turn was just a few feet from the shelters. Adding to my confusing was a blaze after the turn. I rarely ever lose a trail in the middle of the forest. I always find that trails are easiest to lose near civilization, in this case, a dirt road.

Back on trail, the morning hike was quite pleasant. I enjoyed the lush, green forest. I went through some nice sections of ferns carpeting the forest floor. I saw my first and only red eft of the hike. And of course, I saw plenty of mushrooms.

Chicken of the woods, one of the few 
I can identify

Bridge among the green vegetation

The East is always very green

I always enjoy a red eft sighting

Fern-covered forest floor

Nice tread through the ferns

I reached a sign for a side trail to Plum Dungeon Falls. Following the trail led to a view of a small ravine, but no falls. Returning to the main trail, I hiked a few more minutes to a bench along the trail. A small waterfall sat in the ravine below. I'm not sure, but this may be the actual Plum Dungeon Falls. There was even a small foot bridge near the base of this falls. The bridge was hidden in overgrown vegetation. I wonder if the trail actually passed along the bottom of the falls at one point. The ravine above the falls was also pretty and would have a small cascade if the water level was higher. 

Trickling Plum Dungeon Falls

Just above the falls

Leaving the falls, I reached the Miller Farm Road area. The trail hiked along another steep ravine with a small waterfall. Oddly, this was a bigger waterfall than the one I'm guessing was Plum Dungeon Falls, but wasn't marked on the map. This falls dropped below a nice wooden bridge and stairs that crossed the ravine. Above the ravine, mossy boulders lined the creek.

Lower drop of the unmarked falls

This would be beautiful with better water flow

Mossy boulders in a cascade

Nice bridge across the gully

The lush forest through here was quite pretty with several small runs near the trail. I reached another small, unmarked cascade on Toy Run. Less than a half hour later I reached Boughton Falls. Boughton Falls sits in a deep ravine below the trail. Even with low water, all the falls were pretty, but I bet they would be stunning after a heavy rain.

They really do a good job with the 
infrastructure on the trail

More fern-lined trail

Toy Run

I couldn't go too long without more
photos of mushrooms

Lauren lined section

Boughton Falls

I climbed into the ravine to get a better picture of Boughton Falls. When I climbed back up, I ran into day hiker and talked to me a few minutes. He knew the area pretty well and commented on all the mushrooms along the trail. He was able to identify a lot more mushrooms than I know. Too bad, I couldn't retain the information in a short trailside conversation.

Yep, back to the mushrooms

This one was quite different

I saw these two on a mossy log

I reached one last view across the gorge, not far from Boughton Falls. I think this was the second best view after the one overlooking the tableau. I also started to see people more regularly. It was a Saturday after all, so that's to be expected.

One of the better vistas

Leaves weren't changing yet, but I
saw this bright yellow leaf on the ground

You probably weren't expecting more mushroom pics

After hiking about 10 miles or so, I reached a sharp switchback on the edge of private land and a powerline. The trail began its descent here toward Oil Creek and the northern end of the loop. From the switchback, a herd path led to the powerline and what appeared to be a sign. I decided to check it out since it was just a few feet from the trail. I found large billboard sign that had lighting on the ground to illuminate it at night. I won't comment further on the sign. You'll either hate it or think it's awesome, but you can see it in the photo below.

Just off the trail, I'm guessing you either despise this or
think it's the greatest thing

Leaving the powerline and sign, I quickly dropped to Oil Creek and the north end of the Gerard Hiking Trail. The trail crosses Oil Creek on a steel vehicle bridge. If you are interested in seeing even more history on the oil boom, the Drake Well Museum sits just a 1/4 mile off the trail here. When I passed by on a Saturday in July, the area was teeming with people. Crossing the bridge brings you to another trailhead that also serves as the north end of a paved bike trail along Oil Creek, which was also quite busy on a July Saturday.

Road bridge over Oil Creek at the north
end of the trail

Oil Creek from the bridge

After crossing the bridge, the trail reenters the woods along the river. It quickly climbs away from the river on wooden steps. It crosses the paved bike path and climbs back to the ridge. When crossing the bike path, I saw a large snake quickly leave the trail as I approached. It moved quick enough that I couldn't even see what kind of snake it was, but looked to be 3-4 feet long. It was the only snake I saw on the hike.

Back into the woods

Stairs climbing away from the creek

From the northern end of the trail, I only had about 5 1/2 miles left to finish my trip. Once on top of the ridge, the trail didn't seem to drop to far from the height of the land. Now back on the west side of the loop, I didn't see nearly as many people as I thought given the busy trailhead. I guess everyone was sticking to the paved path along the creek.

Bridge over a small creek

Nice trail along the top of the gorge

The last several miles went by quickly. Sticking to the top of gorge made for fast hiking. I didn't get anymore vistas, but saw plenty more mushrooms. 

Yep, a few more mushrooms

For how dry it was, I was surprised at 
how many there were

Lots of varieties too

Final mushroom photo

One more waterfall was marked on the map, less than a mile before the end of my trip. I reached a side trail that marked the route to Lower Miller Falls. The trail descended somewhat steeply and became overgrown. When the terrain leveled out, the creek was barely moving. Looking at my map, it appeared I already passed the falls. I backtracked and didn't see a waterfall. There was an overgrown ravine, but I could barely hear the water trickle. Given the lack of water, I figured it wasn't worth bushwhacking to find a waterfall that didn't have any water. Miller Falls was on the Gerard Hiking Trail if nothing else.

I left the side trail and returned to the Gerard Hiking Trail. I reached Miller Run quickly enough. As expected, the water trickled at best. The trail follows it a short distance. The run starts to flow through a narrow ravine. Here I heard a louder splash of water. I reached Miller Falls. A trickle of water passed over the edge of the small waterfall. While still pretty, I'm sure it would be much more impressive after a storm. From the waterfall, I hiked another few minutes and reached Miller Run Road. I hiked up the road another few minutes and reached my van at the trailhead just before 130PM, wrapping up the trip after 16 miles or so on the day.

Miller Falls with a small trickle

I was pleasantly surprised by the Gerard Hiking Trail. Even though I grew up in PA, I don't really have much experience in this part of the state. While the trail wasn't full of jaw dropping panoramas, it provided a lovely forest experience. I really enjoyed all the mushrooms. The forests were generally peaceful and pretty with several lush spots of vegetation. My owl friend at my campsite would have been enough to make this hike a success as well. Besides the owl, I saw many smaller songbirds. The whistling of the songbirds were almost a continuous sound throughout the hike. I also enjoyed the historic aspect of this hike and found it quite interesting.

Generally, the trail is never too difficult. Although there are a few rocky areas and the occasional steep section, the terrain changes area generally mild with the elevation changes never exceeding 2-300'. The elevation along the entire trip ranges from just over 1,000' at the south end of the loop to near 1,600' at the highest points on the ridges above the gorge.

The Gerard Hiking Trail has something to offer backpackers of all experience levels. Between the full service shelter areas, to the modest 36 mile distance, the trail is attainable for most beginner backpackers- though the distance between the shelters could be challenge for some. As an experienced backpacker myself, there was plenty of variety and scenery to make the hike enjoyable. I'll never complain about a peaceful hike through the forest in pleasant weather.

For more information on Oil Creek State, including maps and reservations, visit the Oil Creek State Park website.

If you enjoyed this post, check out and "LIKE" Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures on Facebook where I post photos more often and revisit past adventures.